(a)

considered the report from the Director for Place;

(b)

considered a written representation and heard from a representative of Devon & Cornwall Police that the crime prevention objective was not being upheld as detailed below–

·          

the premises had operated without problem until 5 May 2013 when it was noted that the customer base of the club was becoming more aggressive and incidents of disorder surrounding and related to the club had increased;

·          

the premises were designated as problem premises on the 1 August 2013 due to the increase in violent and public order situations;

·          

since the review application was made there has been a transfer of the premises licence and the previous designated premises supervisor (DPS) and previous premises licence holder (PLH) no longer had responsibility for the club. The police were of the opinion that the previous DPS and PLH were not in control of the day to day running of the premises or who was admitted. They had previously taken over the premises in June 2012 and the Police commented that there had been deterioration in the premises from the time they took over;

·          

there were incidents of violence taking place from the 22 June 2013 onwards. Violence occurred at the premises on the following dates:

22/6/13, 29/6/13, 30/6/13, 6/7/13, 25/8/13, 1/9/13, 28/9/13,6/10/13 and 13/10/13. None of these incidents were reported to the Police by those responsible for running the premises;

·          

when CCTV had been requested initially it had not been of good quality or had not been made available. Problems with CCTV quality were rectified on the 11 August 2013;

·          

meetings had taken place with the previous DPS on the 30 July 2013 and 13 September 2013, but no improvement in the situation resulted;

·          

the lack of cooperation from the management of the premises made it difficult for the Police to effectively deal with matters and this and the increase in violence were having a negative impact on the crime prevention licensing objective;

·          

the new premises licence holder has closed the premises since he became aware of the problems and has been liaising with police. There has been an agreement for a reduction in terminal hours for licensable activities and the operation of the premises to 00.30 hours which the police consider will be an effective step in ensuring similar problems do not recur. The Police stated that this step was appropriate to take as due to the bad reputation of the club, if it continued with its existing hours there was the potential to attract the same clientele which was likely to undermine the crime prevention licensing objective;

(c)

heard from the new premises licence holder that –

·          

as soon as they had become aware of the problems they had taken immediate action and had forfeited the lease;

·          

they would consult with the Police regarding any new tenant for the premises and would ensure that the licensing objectives were upheld;

·          

they would continue to work with the Police and agreed that the best way forward for the venue was for the licensing hours to be reduced as per the agreement reached with the Police;